Former Airtel & Snapdeal CPO Anand Chandrasekaran backs NoBroker

Former Airtel and Snapdeal Chief Product Officer Anand Chandrasekaran has invested in Bengaluru-based peer-to-peer rentals venture NoBroker Technologies Solutions, the 20th such investment made by the prolific angel investor.

The transaction, however, is a departure from Chandrasekaran’s typical investment strategy, given that NoBroker has already raised about $13 million in funding from number of leading investors, including, multi-stage, sector-agnostic investment firm SAIF Partners, Beenext, the Singapore-based venture capital firm run by Teruhide Sato, and Japanese incubator and venture capital firm Digital Garage, among others.

The only other startup that he has backed, which has also raised venture funding, is Gurgaon-based GoldVIP Technology Solutions, which operates merchant discovery and rewards platform Crownit, which had also, reportedly, raised funding from Accel Partners and Helion Venture Partners.

While Chandrasekaran declined to disclose the exact amount invested by him in NoBroker, he has historically pumped in $10,000-$25,000 in early-stage, sometimes pre-revenue, startups, and has, till date, built up a portfolio, which includes, smartphone gaming app Gamezop, smartphone venture Creo and food-tech startup Innerchef, among others.

“Anand has been a pioneer in conceptualizing and developing products, and his understanding of the market is unparalleled. We needed that expertise, as we look to reduce the cycle of our product evolution,” said Amit Agarwal, co-founder, NoBroker.

Founded by IIT and IIM alum Agarwal, Akhil Gupta and Saurabh Garg in 2013, NoBroker allows customers to bypass the ubiquitous middleman from all property-related transactions, and operates on subscription-fee model. It made the news last September, after it was reported that the startup’s offices were attacked by a mob of about 50 real estate brokers, protesting against the company’s business model.

“My role is largely going to be supporting the work they’re already doing, and help them solve for scale, build a great culture and strategize when to look outside its domestic market, among other things,” Chandrasekaran told ET.

Chandrasekaran, who has also invested Silicon Valley-based startups, has made between 10-12 investments in the current calendar year.

He quit Snapdeal in May earlier this year, having spent a little over 12 months at the SoftBank Group, Foxconn and Alibaba Group-backed, Gurgaon-based online marketplace. Prior to joining Snapdeal, he was the chief product officer at domestic telecom giant Bharti Airtel.